# Ally Louks

Amelia Mary Louks (born 1997 or 1998), known online as Dr. Ally Louks, is an English literary academic. She gained prominence after her PhD dissertation went viral on social media, bringing attention to her research topic of the politics of smell descriptions in literature.

## Education

Amelia Mary Louks was born in 1997 or 1998. Louks graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature from the University of Exeter in 2019 and a Master of Arts (MA) in Issues in Modern Society from University College London (UCL) in 2020.
On a grant and supervised by Kasia Boddy, Louks completed her PhD at Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2024. Her dissertation was titled "Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose". It examines "morally exigent olfactory language in relation to disgust and desire affects."
When explaining her thesis to the broader audience, she has said, "I draw on the well-documented history of olfactory prejudice in order to examine its contemporary relevance...We tend to think that our desire to avoid bad smells is an instinctual, protective mechanism, but evidence suggests that we are taught which smells to find disgusting, since, the disgust response is almost entirely lacking in children under the age of two. The sense of smell, then, is shaped by society and is influenced by the prejudices that pervade it." Louks is in the process of converting her dissertation into a monograph and non-fiction book.

## PhD virality

   * Ally Louks @DrAllyLouks
   Thrilled to say I passed my viva with no corrections and am officially PhDone.
On 27 November 2024, Louks posted a photo of herself on Twitter holding her dissertation, with the caption "PhDone." Louks's post went viral with over 120 million views. Initially, comments were largely positive, until the post broke through to a number of right-wing accounts.
A large backlash began, including thousands of comments from conservative men who implied or outright said women should not be in academia and should be housewives and mothers instead. In addition to branding her the "face of tyranny," hyperbolic personal attacks included: "You literally have lived in the most advantaged time in all of human history for women and after 40 years have literally nothing of any real value to show for it and your bloodline will end with you due to your need to 'stick it to the evil man' by getting an 'education'."
"Thousands of people questioned Dr Louks' work on the politics of smell, saying it provided 'nothing of value' and was 'a completely ludicrous waste of university resources, time and energy," which journalist Rebecca Jennings said was an "extreme, outlandish" response to an "otherwise anodyne post about completing a PhD."
Responding to the backlash, journalist Callum Booth said, "The reaction to Dr Ally Louks' olfactory PhD, sadly, shows the worst side of the internet. The part that believes it knows better than experts, that utterly misjudges the point of a post, and the one that resorts to vile insults over discussion." Louks received a number of rape and death threats. Specifically, one rape threat came to an email address not easily available online. The threat was credible enough for Cambridgeshire Police to confirm they had begun an investigation into a report of a hate incident.
In response to the backlash, she drew a clear line between legitimate and illegitimate critiques, writing "I really don't feel that my work is above criticism... It's just that the criticisms levied at me were not based in reality." Despite the personal attacks, she asserted her resilience, telling Nil Köksal she was "fine... [and hadn't] taken the vitriol to heart because it's ultimately not really about me or my work."
As of December 2024, she had gained over 100,000 new Twitter followers. Regarding her twitter presence, Rolling Stone said, "Dr. Ally Louks has become a beloved fixture of curiosity on an app known for platforming the worst kinds of people."
Andy Parker, Master of Louks's constituent college Peterhouse, issued a statement of support for her, as did Cambridge University itself, congratulating her for finishing her PhD with no corrections and stating they believed the backlash was a sign of harassment and misogyny.
The viral post inspired numerous discourses about gender, academia, online abuse, and "misogynistic bullying." Vox called it "a case study in how the online right targets and harasses those who don't fit into the narrow — and often conflicting — standards they've formulated for women." In addition, Max La Bouchardiere of Varsity wrote on how this interacts with the neoliberal, anti-intellectual backlash to the humanities and social sciences, which Louks further discussed with Brittany Luse and Jason Stanley on NPR's It's Been a Minute.
In February of 2025, Louks signed with both an American and a British literary agent.

## Personal life

In February 2025, she came out as bisexual on Twitter.